{"id":232473,"date":"2026-01-14T09:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232473\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T09:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:34:08","slug":"oranga-tamariki-manager-loses-era-challenge-over-bullying-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232473\/","title":{"rendered":"Oranga Tamariki manager loses ERA challenge over bullying findings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each raised concerns which described a pattern of bullying and belittling or dismissive behaviour.<\/p>\n

The supervisors<\/a> alleged the manager mocked a distressed staff member, calling her a \u201csookie baby\u201d telling her to \u201csuck it up\u201d and put her \u201cbig girl panties on\u201d. She also joked about throwing a box of tissues at her while she cried.<\/p>\n

On other occasions it was alleged the manager used derogatory language such as \u201cf***ers\u201d, publicly criticised staff in the office, rolled her eyes in meetings and created an \u201cus and them\u201d culture within the leadership team.<\/p>\n

They also said she commented on a supervisor\u2019s weight in front of colleagues and held \u201cseparate meetings\u201d that excluded certain supervisors, which were gossip sessions.<\/p>\n

All three expressed the fear of \u201cbacklash\u201d or being the focus of bullying if they spoke up.<\/p>\n

The organisation also received three complaints from M\u0101ori service providers that she had acted in a way that undermined M\u0101ori culture.<\/p>\n

She had also made comments that a person higher up had only got a position \u201cbecause they were M\u0101ori\u201d.<\/p>\n

Formal complaints were laid and human resources staff were brought in to investigate.<\/p>\n

At their disciplinary meeting, the woman said she was shocked over the allegations.<\/p>\n

She accepted some behaviour, including using the term \u201cf***ers\u201d in frustration.<\/p>\n

She denied other comments but conceded she could not be certain she had not said them.<\/p>\n

The organisation found the woman had behaved in an undermining, bullying and harassing manner toward staff, and concluded the behaviour amounted to serious misconduct.<\/p>\n

Allegations of cultural disrespect were not upheld.<\/p>\n

Oranga Tamariki issued a final written warning and demoted her to a social worker, at her request, with salary protection.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe woman took her case to the ERA claiming unjustified disadvantage.<\/p>\n

The woman appealed its decision to the ERA, claiming she was unjustifiably disadvantaged.<\/p>\n

In a recent decision, authority member Davinnia Tan found Oranga Tamariki\u2019s<\/a> process was fair and the woman had full disclosure, representation and multiple opportunities to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cBullying is a serious issue, and while it may not always amount to serious misconduct in every case, I find that when the substantiated allegations are weighed against GYN\u2019s responsibilities as a site manager, coupled with the strong values of the organisation directly applicable to GYN\u2019s leadership role … the finding of serious misconduct is undeniably within the range of findings a fair and reasonable employer could make,\u201d Tan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I step back and assess the process in its entirety, I find that Oranga Tamariki met its obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOranga Tamariki\u2019s process fell within the range of what a fair and reasonable employer could do in all the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authority ruled the woman\u2019s claims were unsuccessful and no orders were made.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each raised concerns which described a pattern of bullying and belittling or dismissive behaviour. The supervisors alleged the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6794,1558,137981,8834,87088,3620,5842,6636,52097,8985,61101,1874,6868,305,42,11517,93,11692,43,90,25816,1523,137983,423,2552,137982,1516,98514,25817,13917,40,38,41,39,9347,102,1530],"class_list":["post-232473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-baby","tag-been","tag-belittled","tag-big","tag-bullied","tag-bullying","tag-calling","tag-challenge","tag-crying","tag-era","tag-findings","tag-found","tag-girl","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-loses","tag-manager","tag-nearly","tag-news","tag-on","tag-oranga","tag-over","tag-panties","tag-point","tag-service","tag-sookie","tag-staff","tag-supervisor","tag-tamariki","tag-telling","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-veteran","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}